Green
by shesahandsomewoman
Summary: Mina navigates her way through Rukongai, becoming a Soul Reaper, and Gotei 13 with help from a few friends along the way.
1. Aurora Borealis

**Part I**

Midsummer night, drinks all around. The night's cool breeze swirling perfectly with the warm buzz of family members catching up over jugs of sake. Mina was sitting on uncle Shunsui's knee, soaking up compliments from red-nosed and jovial adults about how pretty and well-behaved she was. It was the annual Kyoraku 'family' reunion, like every holiday combined, there was tons of food and presents exchanged and for one night of the year everything felt perfect and blissful.

The chipper buzz of conversation started to quiet and the members of the Court Guard Squad migrated onto the porch and front lawn of grandpa Yamamoto's house. Mina was busy sucking on her fingers, eyebrows furrowed, trying to understand the words being exchanged between her mother and her uncle when uncle Shunsui gave her shoulder a light squeeze, leaned forward and pointed past her at the sky. Clear above the woods, the softest glowing green paint strokes in the middle of the royal blue sky embellished with bright sparkles here and there, like sand sparkling in the rays of the sun.

Aurora borealis. She'd never seen a thing like it in her life before, it filled her little mind with such magic and wonderment, she slid off her uncle's lap and started wandering, never taking her eyes off of the alien streak in the sky, off the porch and into the yard until she was directly underneath it. The night was cloudless and clear, there was nothing between her and this phenomenon, this thing that hovered above her made her feel at once small but big enough to reach it if she really really tried. Maybe she was clever enough to coax it down. It was a special being, something that if she didn't get to speak to it now, it'd be a long time before she'd ever get the chance to again.

She raised her arm up and opened her little palm up to the glowing green fox watching her from the stars, and it shifted above her, reaching down with its starlit paw and touch her hand gingerly, giving her some of its own heavenly glow before fading into the night sky.

She lowered her hand and stared into her palm, which was glowing that celestial sea foam green. Nothing felt out of place and everything felt exactly as it should be. She lifted her head to find her entire family, frozen, bewildered at the glowing green child before them. That was the last thing she saw before passing out.

* * *

Stuffing clothes into a bag with shaking hands in the middle of the night, Mina was as anxious as she was furious. The decision was made for her that she'd be attending the Shin'ō Academy. There was no way she was going to take any part in training to become an officer for something as violent and corrupt as the Gotei 13. She knew about the ins and outs of the place thanks to her lineage and it looked like a fucking mess.

Her main argument for staying out of the Shin'ō Academy so far had been the Eleventh Division, more specifically the fear of attending school with the type of people who'd likely be ushered in to the Eleventh Division. She'd heard about it around her neighborhood which had recently joined in with a few other neighborhoods in calling for a major overhaul in the rules about regulating Gotei 13 officers after a few mischievous newbies from the Eleventh destroyed property and put lives of commoners at risk for taking care of a small hollow very, _very_ haphazardly.

There was a slew of horror stories about innocent bystanders getting caught in a fight between a couple of belligerent Eleventh Division officers and ending up in the hospital for weeks, assaults on top of assaults, the periodic accidental deaths. It gave her chills, honestly, but being related to a captain would assure her some degree of protection, even if it offered even more opportunity for embarrassment. Still, she was having none of this shit show and that's the way it was gonna go.

She gingerly set the bag onto the bed, and took out from under her bed a scarlet kaiken, removed the blade and held it by the handle in her mouth while she scooped her hair up into a fist, took the blade from her mouth and started sawing as close as she could get to her scalp. She let longer pieces of freshly shortened hair frame her face and hacked away at the hair near the nape of her neck.

Looking into her mirror, she was satisfied with the person she'd made with her kaiken. With all of her hair she'd looked childlike and girlish, not something anybody took seriously in particular, even when baring witness to her wild temper. She'd never gotten anywhere on her own, never accomplished anything on her own, and didn't have any exceptional qualities. To anybody who knew her she was hot tempered and useless.

This was a new person. This was someone who was tough and did whatever the fuck they wanted no matter what anybody said. Not-to-be-messed-with was debatable. Her immaturity paired with the childish glower on her face screamed 'My only defense is profanity!'

She did however, thanks to her uncle Shunsui, know how to shunpo reasonably well. She took up her bag, opened her window slowly, and made for anywhere, as far as her legs could take her.

 **Author Note: Criticism welcome!**


	2. The Shihakūshō

She felt the cool, refreshing autumn breeze of the morning hit her face as she walked. It smelled like dew and she closed her eyes and welcomed the air. She felt an electric shock of excitement jolt her near exhausted body. She didn't know where she was going to sleep that night, or more accurately, the middle of the day since she'd been traveling all night to get a good head start. She was moving from Seireitei to West Rukongai toward one of the lower ranking Northern Districts by the edge of the Soul Society farthest from Seireitei. Here, her father lived in a small _machiya_ in a notoriously dangerous area. Hey, it wasn't an adventure without the possibility of danger.

She'd gotten about 35 miles flash stepping and walking, about a quarter of the way to her father's and still close enough to Seireitei that the neighborhoods weren't dangerous and were reasonably well kept.

In the late morning the streets started to fill with people, friendly chatter and the smell of food from houses and a local _ryokan_ serving breakfast. She went to the ryokan, pushed aside the _shōji_ and was surprised to see a few Shinigami who she recognized but didn't know the names of scarfing down rice, veggies, fish and miso soup with their morning tea. She ordered the least expensive room available, ate breakfast and promptly crashed until late afternoon.

* * *

She heard a knock on her door and someone saying something about dinner. She felt excitement prickle inside her, and she got up and pulled open the shōji, eyes lit up. Standing outside her door she saw familiar pale skin and light silver hair, and that smile that could make Mother Theresa look like the devil.

"Need some company?" Oh, fuck. Her heart dropped into her stomach. She'd been caught. She wouldn't be able to step foot anywhere without some weirdo following her around reporting every move she made back to Seireitei. She wished she could be one of those people who could hide her emotions and seem cordial in the midst of feeling her soul wither inside her, but from the look on Jūshirō's face, she'd just revealed every ounce of inner turmoil that his presence had set inside her.

"Is everything all right? It's perfectly fine if you'd rather eat alone! Kaien said he thought he saw you check in this morning, I thought I'd just stop by and say hello." She felt a rush of relief. Almost. How soon would news get back to base on her whereabouts?

"Yeah, sorry, yeah, come in, no problem." She threw her pillows on the floor and plunked herself down, crossed legged, on one and patted the tatami floor between the two pillows for Jūshirō to put the tray of food down. He carefully sat himself down on his knees and started pouring saké out into two small cups while she picked clumps of steamed rice up with her fingers and, while she tilted her head back, dropped them in her mouth.

"You're on your own, I see. Planning on meeting up with anyone while you're here?" There was no one she could possibly think of that she'd want to see in particular. But she didn't want to draw attention to the fact that she was alone.

"Nah. Sometimes you just need a break from all the bullshit people bring to the table, you know what I'm saying?" She got up, slid open the door to a deck connected to all the rooms on north side of the building to bring in a little light and fresh air and sat back down. Outside, pale orange light from the _tsuri-dōrō_ lamps contrasted with a twilit blue sky. They were half covered in shadow and the sky outside tinted their other halves cerulean blue.

"Yes. I understand perfectly well." He gave her a sympathetic smile. She mistook the smile as being a hint that he knew, with some kind of psychic ability, that she was up to no good.

"Look," she began, almost without her own consent, as last minute panic pushed her to proceed "don't let anyone know you saw me out here. I'm doing this by myself, for myself. I don't need anyone up my ass trying to find out where I am or what I'm doing. I'm doing, that's all that matters right now," she pleaded. If it was anyone else she'd be threatening their lives if they ever told anyone what they saw, but it was Jūshirō. You'd have to be some kind of sick fuck to be able to look this man in the eye and direct any kind of derogatory speech at him.

The sympathy in his expression gave way to that of concern, and she felt his changing expression fall in her stomach. The panic in her gave way to a sulk.

"Please," she whined, "I need this."

For the first time all night he realized that she was, in fact, up to no good. He looked away from her and sighed.

"What are you doing out here, Mina?" he asked, flatly. He gazed at her with the weary disappointment of a parent. She was really sick of seeing that look on people's faces.

"I was gonna go see dad," she said her whine sharper and higher pitched accompanied by the most pitiful, despairing pout.

He sighed. He didn't like the sound of any of it. Her father was an ex-Shinigami, a skilled swordsman with questionable judgement. After he left the Gotei 13, preaching to all who would listen that the Court Guard Squad thrived on the poverty of the majority of Rukongai, he moved into a violent neighborhood near a slum where he fought anyone who bullied weaker souls in return for their unquestioning loyalty to him. In other words, he had his ego stroked by weaklings he defended while he satisfied his Eleventh Division blood thirst.

He clenched his jaw. He had no business trying to stop her from seeing her father, but at least he could do everything in his power to make sure she was able to keep herself safe.

"Excuse me," he lifted himself off the floor, "I'll be back in just a moment." He gave her the most reassuring smile. She panicked again. She felt the dread wash down her body and sulked. It was already over and she'd only just begun. She wanted to sob and whine and yell and stomp, 'Just let me do what I want!'

After a few moments of seriously considering gathering her belongings and bolting before Jūshirō could return, Jūshirō pulled the shōji open with caution and shut it quietly behind him. He was holding a square of something black in the crook of his elbow. He sat down and set it gingerly on his lap and donned a very grave expression, which she returned, alarmed.

"Here," he said, handing her the square. "This is a Shihakushō and a squad thirteen badge. You should be a deal more safe wearing these." The punishments for a commoner even touching a Shinigami the wrong way were well known throughout districts, so people generally did little more than resent them. Plus, if anything did happen to her, he would be the first to know.

She felt joy swell through her, she got up and squished Jūshirō into a hug, pecking his cheek and pressing it against her own while he rolled his eyes and smiled and blushed. She ruffled his hair up and sat back down across from him.

"So you're not gonna try and stop me?" She was glowing.

"No, I'm afraid you're too old for that now." He got up and placed his hand on her head. "I have to retire for the night. You take care, Mina." He gave her hair a little ruffle and stepped out of the room. She followed him out with her eyes until he was gone and then looked down at the uniform resting on her legs. Was she really going to pretend she was a Shinigami after all this?

 **Author note: Criticism welcome!**


	3. District 78

The noon time sun was searing down on the backs of downtrodden villagers. Renji had woken up a couple hours before and, tired of lounging around, decided to wander into the center of the district and scrounge up something to eat. There was a small commotion going on, villagers who had been walking around like zombies under the heat had perked up a considerable amount to gossip about the traveler wearing a grey kosode and hakama, a sign that this person lived closer to or in the more affluent western districts.

The big stir was that it was a girl with short hair wearing guy's clothes. There were all sorts of rumors flying around that she'd come to lure 'troubled girls' to work in a bath house a couple districts away, and similar ones about brothels, even one that she'd come to take over the district and kill off the all the men so she could rule and force the village women to be her underlings.

Farther down the road, a gap in the bustle of foot traffic surrounded the infamous girl. Her tabi and sandals were caked with dirt and grime, the bottoms of her hakama were tan with dried dirt. Her face was dirty and oily and a little broken out and occupied on it was an expression of exasperation.

Renji watched as she tried to politely grab the attention of certain villagers– "Excuse me, please"– and they'd give her a quick glance of alarm before scurrying away. She let out a big sigh and an irritated sob.

"Why won't anybody talk to me?!" She threw her head back in despair.

He snorted out a laugh. This is who they were afraid of? This town had seen and was home to some of the worst criminals in the area, but this is the person people were shielding their kids from?

He made a beeline straight to her, which garnered horrified stares from onlookers. She gave him the most pitiful look of reverence.

"What's up?" he asked, coolly.

"Where the fuck am I?" at this point, the residents started to go back to wandering the streets and pretended that they didn't exist.

"District 78."

"I'm in the south?! Fuck. Fuck! I shouldn't have listened to that shit bird from the ryokan, he had no idea what the _fuck_ he was talking about!"

As she panicked he noticed she was unusual to what he was used to seeing. She was chubby, pretty, but not remarkably so, and there was a strange green iridescence to her eyes, which glowed like hot coal. Another remarkable detail was that she wasn't hiding anything. Everything she felt seemed to be out on the table, and he wasn't sure how she'd survived this long like that. He was used to people being tough and cunning to survive but it was obvious by her attitude that she'd never had to live in this environment or be responsible for her own survival against all odds.

He at once felt an ambivalence toward her. He resented the fact that she still retained much of her innocence, but at the same time he didn't get the feeling that he'd have to sniff her out for any ulterior motives.

"It took me three goddamn days to get out here and I'm not even in the right place!" She stopped herself, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then sighed, defeated. Her leg muscles were incredibly sore and she desperately wanted a bath. Even so, she was proud of herself for trudging on despite wanting to run back home with her tail between her legs.

"Do you know anywhere around here I can wash up? Or even just rinse some fuckin' dirt off?"

He smiled but his face still looked cold and hard.

"Yeah, follow me." He nodded in the opposite direction of where they were standing and started walking. A mile or so off, the houses tapered off and there were empty fields sprawled everywhere. The closer they got to the field, she heard the sound of running water behind houses and trees, which was a God-send in the grueling heat.

She started walking a little faster behind him, for some reason the idea of walking beside him seemed too intimate and she didn't want to get in the way in case they needed to take a turn, and suppressed the urge to skip. When they got closer to the fields and she saw the sun reflecting off the water of a running river, she ran right past him toward it with a big silly grin on her face.

He was caught by surprise. "Hey!" he called out, "I wouldn't swim in there if I were you!"

She came to a halt and turned around, her face falling. "Oh."

"They don't call it the river of shit for nothing. Come on, this way." He walked off in the direction of the woods and for the first time it dawned on her that this strange boy could just be looking to take advantage of her. She didn't see any weapons on him but he had about half a foot on her in height and his short tan kimono revealed well-developed muscles. She slid a hand under her kosode and touched her kaiken tucked under her obi. Curiosity killed the cat, as the old saying goes, and she wanted to follow him just to see what would happen, even though it was against any sane person's better judgement.

When they got close enough to the woods, he stopped and turned around and she stopped about five feet away from him.

"Hot springs are through the woods." He glanced toward them and then in the direction that they came from and stepped closer to her. She stepped back a little and started to worry. He gazed down on her under half lidded eyes.

"I want to know what I get out of this."

She let out a low, barely audible whine. She was barely equipped to handle this and she was starting to freeze up. She struggled to pull the kaiken out of her kosode, the sweat on her hands sliding on the smooth wood of the sheath. She pulled out the right side of her kosode curtly and shot her kaiken an offended look, like it was pulling some kind of prank on her, and yanked it out. It came out and she promptly dropped it on the ground where she dove down to pick it up. She yanked the kaiken out of its sheath and stood back up, aiming the point right at his nose.

"You better not try anything funny!"

After witnessing this pathetic display, he furrowed his brows and glanced at the point of her blade and then rolled his eyes.

"No, idiot, money. Give me some fuckin' money and I'll take you to the hot springs." He glanced away from her. "I'm not into fat girls anyway."

Mina gasped, eyes widening. "I'll find the hot springs myself!" She threw some money at him and stormed past him into the woods.

He took the money and started to run back toward the town. He planned to gorge himself while she wandered around in the woods looking for a hot spring that didn't exist, and then maybe he'd go clean up in the river afterward.

* * *

Under the shade of the blooming sakura tree, Shunsui and Jūshirō lounged on Shunsui's porch in a quieter area of Seireitei drinking saké and chatting.

"You think she's okay?" Worry wasn't something that usually struck Shunsui's features, but today was a different day. It'd been two days since Jūshirō had told him the news about Mina, three days since he received a letter from Mina herself with only the words "I'm fine. Don't worry." Four since he'd found her hair on her bedroom floor.

"Somehow I think she'll be just fine, even better for it." One thing Mina had always loved about Jūshirō is that he always had faith in her. He was one of the only people she didn't cause (too much) trouble for. Even when she royally fucked up, he was still there with that kind smile of his encouraging her to get back up and do better next time.

"It's a beautiful day for drinking!" Shunsui poured himself another glass. His heart sunk a little bit for Mina. They were drinking her favorite kind of saké. It was especially sweet, just the way she liked it. He was proud of her though, for going off on her own without expecting anyone to come get her when things got to be too much. He smiled and toasted to Mina, and then downed the glass. He couldn't wait to hear about all of her adventures when she returned.

The sky started to turn grey and off in the distance was rumblings of thunder. The leaves started to rustle and turn over in the wind. Shunsui's lieutenant Lisa Yadōmaru showed up to Shunsui's home looking grave.

"It's been reported to me that five villagers from northern Rukongai districts have been slaughtered seemingly all by the same Zanpakutō."

Shunsui and Jūshirō looked at one another, concerned.

"Zanpakutō?"

"There was spirit energy still in the wounds when the bodies were found."

Jūshirō and Shunsui both stood up, alert.

"Lead us to where the bodies are."

 **Author note: Criticism welcome!**


	4. Green

The weather was humid and the sky a white hot grey that made Mina squint as she trudged through the most desolate and run down village she'd com across yet. Everything was shabby and falling apart, the once prosperous town was now full with machiyas that sported numerous make-shift fixes to keep the cold out during the night and keep bare minimum privacy, none of the doorways were actually occupied by working doors, some had shōji doors leaning on the entranceway, others had tatami mats half-heartedly sewn together and nailed to the top of the doorway, some just had tattered old kimonos in place of a door.

There was scarcely a person out, anyone she did see out and about was some rugged looking man, tanned, wrinkled and scarred, staring at her doggedly. The closer she came to her father's house, the more rough looking men, not together as such, but spread about at their respective homes, either leaning casually against their little machiyas or sitting on the ground toiling with something useless. There was not one woman that she'd seen yet, just the gruff old men staring her down and she passed them.

She stared bleakly at the ground ahead of her, only looking away every so often to keep an eye on where she was headed. This was supposed to be the fun, dangerous part. That was back when she was in her own neighborhood, where none of the boys paid any attention to her so she just happily assumed she'd be safe where other girls weren't. Here, she became painfully aware of her body and the lack of any other woman in sight but herself.

She focussed intensely on the feeling in her abdomen where her fear lay, pushing it down softly and avoiding any sudden movements that would draw anymore attention to her. She walked smoothly without stopping, tried not to swing her hips too much or have any bounce in her step that would exaggerate any movement of her chest. Her jaw was clenched and her fists balled up.

Her dad's house was only a few yards away, and she sped her pace just the slightest bit. If she could just make it there she'd be fine. If she could just get away from the stares everything would be okay. She was almost holding her breath, and every time she breathed out too harshly in the slightest it sounded so loud it startled her.

A serious little white haired boy living in the outskirts of west Rukongai gave her a map and helped her draw a guide to where she was headed in the north after allowing her to stay with him and his grandmother after her horrible night of wandering aimlessly through the woods. She knew from conversations overheard by her about her father that his house was the only well kept machiya in the district. So she searched, getting a good aerial view of the neighborhood and was careful not to shunpo where there were people, aware that the shunpo was an ability only Shinigami were trained to have, and people around here were not very friendly toward Shinigami.

Unfortunately, she found that her grey kosode and hakama were too heavy for the weather, and she found that the Shihakūshō was so light and airy and she moved so easily in it. She decided to forego the black kosode, though, going in only a white kimono and black hakama, which felt good and breezy but still attracted some unwanted attention, especially as there was no kosode to hide her kaiken, some people thought she was a Shinigami anyway, and that that was her zanpakutō.

She approached her father's house and opened the one sliding shōji in the neighborhood and promptly shut it behind her. Inside there was an _actual_ floor, tatami, and a kitchen, with some flat cushions for seats. The next room was an _actual_ bedroom, with a futon mattress and everything. No hay jabbing into her sides! In the room across from that one was a private bathtub. She'd use that when her dad was done running errands or whatever, so he could keep away the creeps outside the house.

Her physical exhaustion overwhelmed her anxiety and she crashed on the futon mattress.

* * *

A coarse hand held the nape of her neck with the grip of the devil. Her legs were pinned down and she tried move her arms but those were seized and pinned to her back. She felt the man on her back pull her up by her neck and it was so, so painful. She turned her eyes to her right and saw an ugly man pull a jagged sword out of a sheath tucked into his obi. She whimpered involuntarily and closed her eyes.

"This is no place for women," he told her in his low, scratchy voice as he perched one knee on the futon and raised his sword to her throat. "I'll show you how we treat women here in good ol' district 66," he breathed into her ear and chuckled and she looked away with utter disgust. He started to untie her obi sash as a third man rummaged through her belongings.

"Sir!" the man said, she heard him pull something out.

"What is it?" asked the man holding the sword to her throat, irritated. She saw his bloodshot eyes widen with the purest rage before directing his hateful eyes toward her. The man held up her squad 13 badge and the rest of her Shihakūshō.

"A _soul reaper_." He was so full of rage, she could feel him shaking. One of his eyes twitched.

"Let me teach you a thing or two about _reaping souls_." He jerked her head back by the hair on the front of her head and pressed his dull sword to her throat, the guard of his katana pressed against her neck. He pressed harder and she sobbed. In one curt movement he pulled and she let out a blood-curdling scream, while he laughed maniacally and sawed at her neck.

The screaming stopped. Her head went limp. He stared in horror at the sight before him. As he held his sword, he stared at the blade with absolute terror, while his henchmen looked on in confusion. The blade of his sword was a small nub, the rest had melted like butter onto the bed and her lap. Her face donned look of a corpse but the entirety of both of her eyes glowed a supernatural green color. The gaping wound on her neck was disappearing like a boat sinking into the ocean.

Her head lifted up as if it were being pulled by a string and it wobbled a little bit, doing a balancing act on her neck. Then her head turned and she looked right through him. Her elbow lifted up, and then her forearm, and her hand upturned and pressed to his face. He let out a long screech until his voice gave out, his mouth agape in a silent scream.

Skin and blood oozed between her fingers and dripped onto the floor like melting wax. She watched the skin fall, blankly, pulled her hand from his face and and gazed at it, head tilted to the side, in passive fascination at the chunks of flesh and deep, thick maroon glazing her palm. A pure, jade tear fell from her eye and and clicked onto the floor.

She whipped her head around to stare at the men frozen with fear who'd witnessed the hideous scene before them. The whites of her eyes now shown, almost too much as her eyes were wide with the wildness of a cat about to pounce. She had no pupils, just irises glowing a fiery green.

One man bolted out the door and her head twitched in his direction before shunpo-ing after him, right foot hitting the ground just once, covering about 12 feet in one leap, before jumping on his back and knocking him into the dirt. She punched his head into the ground, and then pressed her four fingers, thumb tucked into her palm, with incredible pressure into head, starting at the hairline and then dragging backwards leaving streaks of third degree burns on his scalp. She held his head down by pushing on the nape of his neck with her other hand and the dirt muffled his screams before he passed out.

The other man had run almost a block before she was finished with the first and she got up, stomping on and digging her heal into the man below her, forcing one last grunt out of him before running after the other with twice his speed, catching up to him faster than he could run. She jumped high and kicked him in the back with both legs, making trip and forcing the air out of his lungs. She fell onto the ground and got back up immediately, dropped her weight, knees first, into his back. She took him by the wrists and jerked both of his arms back, popping one of his shoulders out of its socket, untied her obi and bound his hands together with it. Then she punched the back of his head into the ground until she saw small rivers of blood start to wander from his face.

A short ways away, a bald man in a short white kimono with a black obi and black trim stared at her with focussed fascination. There wasn't a trace of fear in him, just complete and utter engrossment mixed with a twisted excitement. He got up from the place where he'd been lounging before and during all the commotion and started in her direction. She was straddling the back of the man on the ground, tying her obi back around her waist.

"Hey you beast! Come here and fight me!" he hollered at her. Her head flicked up to see him as she jerked the knot of her obi together and lifted herself up.

She shunpo-ed to the polished house and went inside and he followed her in a full sprint. There was complete silence, eerily so. As he reached the door he heard a gut-wrenching, fearful scream that made him flinch. There was the same girl, but completely different from how he'd seen her a moment ago. She burst out of the house, sobbing and whimpering in terror. She saw him, flinched, saw the bodies in the street and made her way to the other side of the house. She fell against it, hitting the wall with her back and slid down it pitifully. Inside he saw the body of a man with a severely mutilated face, blood all over the place.

Her chest hurt, she couldn't breath. She looked at her hand and held it as far away from her as she could. She wish she could just cut it off. She put her head in the direction opposite of her hand and nestled her forehead into the crook of her elbow, hiding her eyes. She sobbed so hard she couldn't breath properly. Her mouth was wide open, letting out a few wheezes here and there.

She heard footsteps crunching in the dirt in her direction and looked up in fearful anticipation, breathing rapidly and lightly. A shiny, bald head poked out curiously around the corner and she pushed her body back with her legs.

"No. no. no, no no no no, please," she begged him. She was completely vulnerable, and she dreaded whatever was about to happen next. He was standing over her now. He took his sword, pointed it at her and her face contorted into dread. Then he tossed it in her direction. She took the sword, unsheathed it and pointed it in his direction, pushing herself back away from him further. He kneeled down so he wasn't looming over her.

"You want me to get that guy outta there for ya?" She nodded, cautiously, waiting for the 'Well, what do I get out of it?' It never came. He got back up and walked into the house. Moments later she heard the sound of him dragging the heavy body out into the woods and heaving it into the foliage. The thump of the body hitting the ground was loud, like the man had picked up the entire weight of the body. She felt intimidated and clutched the sword closer to her.

She heard him walk back into the house. She got up and creeped toward the door, holding the sword firmly in front of her chest, and heard the water from the private bath start to run. She heard some rummaging and some footsteps and water slapping on the tatami floor. Walking into the house and peaking around the bedroom door, she saw him sitting on his knees pushing a cloth back and forth on the floor and wringing out soapy water and blood into a large bowl, sometimes picking up little pieces of flesh and flicking them in with the bloody water.

He was cleaning up the remnants of the body. In a strange, horrible way it was almost endearing that he'd taken up the worst task imaginable for her, but the fact was that this man was casually cleaning up pieces that made up a person and didn't seem to be unsettled by any of it, at all, like she was. She couldn't understand why he was doing any of this for her, if he was doing it for her (maybe he got off on this kind of thing?). She watched him in horrified fascination, eventually making her way into the bathroom, once he dumped his blood bowl in the woods and the smell died down a little bit, where she ran water.

She followed his suit, filling a large bowl up with water and washing her blood encrusted hand in it. She laughed a little bit to herself. She had her own little blood bowl going. Her and this strange man, just cooking up a couple batches of blood soup together. With death mingling in every breath she took, she thought the best she could do in this moment was find the humor in it all.

Satisfied with the cleanliness of her hand, she took out her blood bowl and dumped it on the street outside the house, glanced at the man laying on the street and sauntered back inside. She'd already compartmentalized most of it and was numb to the situation. She knew this man could probably kill her if he wanted to, but she'd already accepted that her chances of survival were low here so she didn't worry about it. At all.

She fell onto the bed, got comfy, and watched him as she started to fall asleep. He'd cleaned up most of the mess, and was now squishing a lemon he'd found in the kitchen over the blood stains to help cover up the smell. He'd even scrubbed the edge of the bed.

He found his sword on the floor of the bathroom, picked it up and sat outside, guarding the place. Unbeknownst to her, this girl had just beaten some of the toughest gangsters in Rukongai, and more would come looking for vengeance. He was going to take full advantage of this opportunity to have some fun. If he was lucky, he'd get to fight whatever the hell killed these three men today.


	5. Panic

The room was dark and humid when Mina woke up, with a vague putrid smell filling the air. Faintly she heard some kind of high pitched screaming and, startled, sat up on the bed listening intently. It dragged on for a while and out of morbid curiosity, decided to wander outside the bedroom to get a better idea of where it was coming from and if she could be put in danger herself.

She opened the door and the screaming was immediately closer and more vivid and she jumped a foot back into the room before tiptoeing quickly toward the door, peaking her head out around the corner for a flash of a second before doing a much slower double take.

Suddenly it ceased. She felt a cool sweat wash over her as she peaked around the corner. A man with long black hair and a purple kimono had removed a tea kettle from the hot stove, Mina only saw a glimpse of his profile before he turned around and set the kettle on a cloth on the wood table, setting out to prepare tea.

Mina crept over to the kitchen on the tip of her toes, and he flicked his head around and looked her up and down, seemingly offended by what they saw.

"Ugh! A private bath and you look like that? Don't come out here until you've cleaned yourself up." He then turned his head away from her. Mina glanced at the bathroom with anxiety.

"I don't think I feel safe bathing here."

He sighed.

"Come here." He commanded without looking at her. Mina went over to the table.

"Have a seat," He said, flatly. Mina kneeled to her knees positioned diagonally from the woman. Seeing the man from this angle, he had sharp features, eyes the color of wisteria blossoms, and straight eyebrows sloping downward toward the bridge of his nose in slight annoyance, but not enough to make a crease.

He faced her direction briefly to place a tea cup in front of her. The smell and the steam from the tea drowned out any other senses just for a moment. She closed her eyes and embraced the warmth for just a second before the door burst open letting in the whirlwind of an enthusiastic bald man with a katana on his shoulder.

"It's my lucky day, Yumichika! These assholes don't know how to quit!" He leaned the katana against the wall by the door and rummaged through some cupboards before taking out a saké jug and some flat cups and putting them haphazardly down onto the table before plunking himself down across from Yumichika. He poured himself a glass, downed the whole thing and, looking displeased with the saké cups decided to take big gulps from the jug.

"Having fun?" Yumichika sipped at his tea.

"Oh, hell yeah. I haven't had this much fun in months."

"How many have you taken on today?"

"Four. And they're tough as hell, too." A satisfied grin shown across his face before taking another swig from the jug.

Mina just stared into her teacup. She felt stiff with awkwardness. Who were these people? How were they making themselves at home so easily in such a dangerous place? Were they protecting her? Why would they be? The silence was thick and there were murmurs of sounds suggesting there was some kind of unspoken communication between Yumichika and the bald man. The tension kept her frozen, head down with her chin almost touching her neck.

"Ikkaku!" a sharp whisper sliced through the quiet. She looked up with her eyes for only a second to see Yumichika nodding impatiently in the direction of the bald man, Ikkaku. Ikkaku cleared his throat.

"You okay, kid?" She didn't lift her head but her eyes wandered up to meet his. He didn't seem too concerned, but his eyes pierced and made her feel terribly in the spotlight.

"Um, uh, well. No. I'd like to go home but I don't want to uh... die." She clenched her jaw and moved her eyes to the stretch of table ahead of her. She shifted her weight and started twitching her foot a little bit. He scratched his head and looked in the opposite direction of her and then sighed.

"Maybe... we can help you out with that. We're used to wandering around districts, it wouldn't make that much of a difference." She felt Yumichika's face immediately twist into a sour expression directed toward a passive Ikkaku and her stomach dropped. She felt like she was at a stale mate. Staying here or being escorted back to West Rukongai, the prospect of her being murdered seemed higher than that of anything else. She felt like she was trapped in a tiny little box that she'd never escape. Suddenly there was a pressure on her chest and she felt her entire energy being dragged down, like she was standing under a black waterfall. She gasped for air but struggled to take any in.

She started to see things through a strange green haze. She saw Ikkaku smile a horrific excited grin at her while grasping for his sword and a cold blaze of panic set through her body, and suddenly...

Nothing. She couldn't feel her emotions or her body, but she could still see everything going on around her. She saw Ikkaku draw his sword out in a flash. He went to stand up completely but she saw herself draw close to him in a second. He threw his sword up in front of him in defense, holding it up horizontal in front of his chest. Her hands were pushing against his sword, and she could see he was gritting his teeth hard using all his strength to keep his blade from being turned on him.

She let up eventually, pushing away from him and looking at all the blood on her hands. The wounds weren't clearing and suddenly she felt an immense rage take over her. Her sight was completely overtaken by green and she couldn't see anymore. She was gone.

* * *

The girl looked down at her hands bloodied by his own sword. Then, as quick as lightening, she reached out and scratched his cheek. He made out to lash her own cheek with his blade but she ducked and, like an animal, ran at him on all fours and head butt him straight in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. He slid down the wall, regained his breath and before she could do anything else, he pushed himself off the wall and hit her in the side with the hilt of his sword, knocking her on all fours.

When she was fighting the men before she looked so strong, but it seemed that fighting someone with a reiatsu was something she hadn't been up against before. She started to get up, shooting a wide-eyed look of fear and defensiveness toward Ikkaku and disappeared out the door before Ikkaku could act or even see her make her way toward the door. Both Ikkaku and Yumichika, who was now leaning in the farthest corner of the kitchen, stared at the door in bewilderment for a few moments before Ikkaku's head lolled back and he let out a growl of frustration. How disappointing. This is what he got for getting his hopes up.

 **Author note: Criticism welcome!**

 **This story is taking a bit of a different turn than I had originally intended. The description may not end up matching the story itself.**


	6. The Fight Begins

Mina, having only had a small reserve of energy to accommodate whatever was taking control of her, collapsed a few yards behind her father's house. A few minutes later, she emerged from her blackout only enough to appreciate how the breeze felt on her dirty face and how comfortable the gravelly ground beneath her was after she'd pulled a few jagged stones that were jabbing into her side out from underneath her and tossing them into the thick foliage in front of her before falling asleep right where she lay.

Meanwhile, Ikkaku and Yumichika were busy relaxing in what they'd observed was a house that'd been abandoned for quite some time. Yumichika indulged himself to the futon in the other room while Ikkaku ran a finger over the grey entrance shōji panel to reveal the light yellow paper underneath caked dust. He flicked the dust off of his fingers and plunked himself down on a pillow, which released a cloud on impact. Ikkaku, squinting, gently waved the particles away from his eyes. A film had formed over the top of Yumichika's unfinished tea.

* * *

It had only been a week and a half since the fight with Zaraki. Ikkaku's entire world had been thrown upside down and curb stomped. He'd lost. He thought he deserved to die. He _did_ deserve to die. In that moment he knew the fight was over, he'd never craved death so much before in his life. Before the fight, he was starting to settle into his life as a vagabond with an unquenchable thirst for violence. He was starting to get bored with it even. More and more fights under his belt, more skills and strength acquired, less opponents who could really give him even the slightest thrill he'd gotten from his very first fight. He was starting to think there was no one left in Rukongai who could take him on.

Ikkaku tipped his head back against the wall and watched the dust glitter in the dusky orange last hour of daylight. He never thought he'd stumble on someone like Kenpachi Zaraki the way he did. He thought he'd be more prepared. He wasn't ready to have everything he thought he knew and everything he thought he was completely crushed by the swing of a sword.

Startled, he grabbed his sword as he heard the door next to him open. What walked in looked like an animated corpse. The girl was pale, dirt and tiny rocks clung to blood she'd wiped on her face. Her hands were curled up at her sides in a strange, unnatural position. Her wounded palms her clearly bothering her.

"Hey," he called out softly. She looked over at him and the skin around her eyes was grey. He figured she was hungry and tired, and the blood loss, while not being enough to do any longterm damage, had taken a toll. "Will you let me take a look at your hands?"

She walked over him and sunk down to the right of him on the hard floor, acutely aware of the possible danger of sitting with her back against the entrance door. She opened her hands as wide as she could without opening the wound and inviting in an avalanche of little pebbles. Ikkaku put his hand on her wrists and tipped each one down so he could get a better look.

He got up and rummaged around the kitchen for some cloth, which he then dipped into the kettle of now lukewarm tea water. He sat down next to her and took her hand gingerly, dabbing the cloth across her wound.

If she were in a better state she'd be pretty psyched that some ripped guy from Rukongai was taking care of her, but all she could process were her immediate surroundings and base instincts. Her palms stung and she was tired. Ikkaku's hands were coarse and strong. His nails were bitten up and the top edges were black. Little lines of veins dotted the back of his hand and then crawled up his arms. She could see every little mechanism involved in making his teeth clench; the muscles in his jaw to the slight movements of his temple every time he pushed his teeth together.

And his eyes. The little red tattoos at the outer corners of his eyes. It looked like geisha makeup, and they hadn't smudged a bit. She reached her freshly cleaned hand out, while he dabbed at her other one, to run a thumb over the corner of his eye.

He looked up at her patiently, then back at her palms. "They're tattoos." He leaned toward her and reached for his sword behind her. She blushed and leaned back a little bit, pointedly looking toward the ceiling. When he pulled back, she watched and as he used the edge of his thumbnail to pop open a little lid hinged to the very bottom of his swords hilt, revealing a small tub of some kind of ointment. He picked up a small amount with his forefinger and dragged it across her palm making her gasp in pain at the direct pressure to the most tender part of her wound, but the pain receded as soon as the pressure did.

"Why did you get those tattoos?" She asked while he dragged his ointment covered finger over her other palm to distract herself from the pinch of pain.

"I thought they looked tough." He smiled a let out a small laugh, "not much I can do about 'em now." He looked up at her and she was staring at his eyes. She looked from his tattoos, right into his eyes.

"Thank you." she said earnestly. He looked away quickly and started ripping up part of the clean part of the cloth he used to clean her hands and wrapped them around her palms.

He looked back up at her and smiled.

"You're welcome."

Ikkaku suddenly grabbed his sword and threw open the shōji. Mina, inside, could hear grunts, the slick whip of swords and the curt _ching_ sound of two swords hitting each other. After recovering from the initial shock, Mina slowly lifted herself off the ground and crept back toward the bedroom, which was dark and empty. She was startled by the sound of something heavy hit the back wall of the house. She sat down with her back against the wall of the house connected to the kitchen and pulled her kaiken out, gripping it firmly in front of her. She heard someone run frantically in the direction of the bedroom, at the same time a man with wild hair and a wild expression burst through the backdoor, making a bee line toward her and raising his sword up to stab her. She slipped narrowly out of the way of his stab and jumped onto the futon. In through the door, fast as lightening was Ikkaku, with an even wilder expression, eyes wide and teeth bared. Even faster was his sword. Mina pushed her palms against her ears, closed her eyes tight and jumped off the other side of the bed.

She stayed like this for a good 10 minutes until she felt things had calmed down. She opened her eyes and, very cautiously, released her ears from the pressure of her hands. No voices, no swords. She tiptoed toward the door, looking toward the right of her where the back door had failed to do it's fucking job, and toward the front. Both were open, and she made her to close the back door and lock it tight before turning her back on it to make her way to the kitchen.

"Piece of cake," Ikkaku said, scowling. "None of those guys were even remotely tough."

Mina sat down on the other side of Ikkaku, the same way they were before, Yumichika on the opposite side.

"Looks like you have a new pet," Yumichika huffed out a mean little laugh.

Ikkaku looked over at Mina for a moment, rolled his eyes and pouted back at the wall. "Yeah. Great."

Ok, now she was hurt. She raised her eyebrows and put her thumbnail to her mouth to munch on.

She pulled her thumb away from her mouth, "Wait, what just happened?"

"Ambush," both Yumichika and Ikkaku replied flatly.

"Oh…" She lifted her thumb back up to her mouth.

Ikkaku suddenly turned to Mina, "You have no idea how to fight, do you?"

She felt a little threatened by his accusatory tone, and anticipating a big fat lecture, generously topped with 'What the hell are you doing out here?!', she looked at the floor and replied weakly, "Well, I mean… I just–"

"Lemme teach you."

Yumichika let out a very incredulous "What?!"

Mina looked over at Ikkaku, eyes lit up. "Okay!"


	7. Don't Look Back

Ikkaku shook her awake at the crack of dawn. He almost couldn't sleep the night before. He was excited about his new pet project to distract him from his worries. She was slow to get out of bed. For twenty minutes of him being as irritating as he possibly could be, poking at her and being loud, she laid there without moving. She only groaned in response to him asking her constantly if she was going to wake up yet. She finally dragged herself out of bed when Ikkaku came in banging pots and pans together to his high pitched voice singing a charming little 'wake up' song for her.

Mina hauled herself out to the kitchen. A groggy and very unhappy looking Yumichika sat on his knees at the low table with his arms crossed. When he spotted her, he flipped his hair and went back to pouting. Ikkaku was standing, resting a thick stick against his shoulder and leaning on another. He looked over at Yumichika and nodded to where Mina had just came from.

"Futon's all yours."

Yumichika let out a little grumpy little 'hmph' and stormed off down the short hallway. Ikkaku looked over at Mina, who stood there with her shoulders slumped, barely able to keep her eyes open. Ikkaku whistled to her like he was calling a dog over and nodded for her to follow him. He threw the stick that was on his shoulder into his other hand and opened the door half way with his free hand. When Mina didn't follow, he looked over his shoulder blithely and raised an eyebrow to her.

"Ya got a long day ahead of ya. C'mon."

And with that he disappeared outdoors. Mina reluctantly followed. When she got outside, Ikkaku tossed one of the sticks to her. Flinching, her eyebrows raised and eyes squinting, face slightly turned away, she threw her arms out in some attempt to both catch and repel the stick. It hit her knuckle and she quickly pulled her hand back to her chest. Her eyes narrowed even more and her mouth made a funny little 'O' shape as she airily groaned in pain.

She shook her hand out and picked up her stick, holding it limply as she examined her hand. Ikkaku's expression was flat. He had his work cut out for him. Mina gave her hand one more good shake and then held her sword out in front of her, donning a very tense and serious expression. Ikkaku went to her and corrected her stance. First he taught her a couple different rudimentary ways to block, which they practiced for hours until she got it down. Then he taught her basic attack moves, which they spent the rest of the day practicing until it was muscle memory.

By sundown, Mina was covered in dirt and sweat and she was starving. Ikkaku prepared fish Yumichika had caught while complaining about how dirty and ugly fish were, on a makeshift spit over a small fire outside. They all slept in the bedroom, Yumichika and Mina on the bed and Ikkaku on the floor. Before bed, Mina laid on the futon, Yumichika behind her with his back to her. She looked down at Ikkaku, who was on his back on the floor staring up at the ceiling. He looked over at her and smiled. This time, his smile wasn't scary.

"You did good, kid."

He shifted over onto his side and moments later, Mina could hear him snore. It comforted her. Despite everything she'd gone through, there was nowhere else she would rather have been at that moment. She would be dead without these people and she wanted to stay with them, even if she could sometimes feel Yumichika's general disdain for her a mile away. At this point, she felt that if she died tomorrow, at least she'd have died trying to do something meaningful for herself instead of meandering away her days drinking and sleeping. With that thought, she fell asleep.

* * *

"Go!" Ikkaku's whisper was sharp. They were squatting next to a shack, Ikkaku's eyes fixed on a group of menacing looking men. Mina had only been training for a few weeks, maybe a month and a half. She was a quick learner and determined, and they would also train for entire days at a time, accelerating her progress more than if she had other obligations to meet. Ikkaku decided she should spar with a complete stranger, someone who had no reason to spare her or excuse a slip up.

Mina felt sick to her stomach. She almost wished she was the type of person with nerves bad enough to produce bile, she was ready to take anything to get out of this. She wasn't sure Ikkaku would excuse her just for puking. She started to push herself up into a standing position but chickened out and ducked back down again. She could feel Ikkaku's irritation and became flustered. Ikkaku had lent her his sword and was eager to get it back. She huffed and rubbed at her face, making it all red. She could feel herself wanting to cry.

She started getting angry at Ikkaku for giving her no alternatives. There were three grown men with swords, laughing belligerently and pushing each other around. One of the men pushed the other too hard and the man closest to Mina fell straight on his ass. Mina saw an opportunity to make her first move and made to pounce on her new victim when Ikkaku grabbed her by the cloth of her kosode right in the middle of her back and pulled her back hard, throwing her to the ground behind him. He towered over her, one hand balled into a fist and the other pointing and stabbing at her as he scolded her. His eyes were wild.

"I did not fucking teach you that! Never strike first if your opponent is down!"

He was shouting at this point and Mina's eyes darted from him to the men attracted to the very specific subject at hand, making their way toward the two of them. Mina's eyes were wide and she was jutting her chin out in the direction of the men trying to signal to Ikkaku to shut his loud trap. He didn't care. He knew what he was doing. He was determined that she fight no matter what. As the men inched closer, Mina growled in annoyance and, still laying on the ground, unsheathed the sword and stabbed it into the ground, pushing her weight onto it to lift herself into a standing position. Ikkaku's eyes widened in offense at her treatment of his sword, and his eyes never left her as he stepped to the side to avoid a lazy attack from one of the men who'd made an attempt to sneak up behind him.

Mina made her first move out of sheer necessity, realizing quickly that the man she was so afraid to battle was clumsy and slow. The men he was with stood by in the background, both resting a hand on the sword on their hip. She blocked all of his attacks with laughable ease. She actually started to laugh in disbelief, much to the chagrin of the man she was up against. He snarled and started to hit harder, swing faster. He happened to swing his sword in just the right place for Mina to instinctively grab him by the arm and stab him through the stomach. Both Mina and the man gasped at the same time. Her sword grew heavy as the man's body grew limp and he fell to his knees on the ground. The sounds he made were some cross between a grunt, a cough, and gurgling, and it horrified Mina, causing her stomach to twist into painful knots. Her mouth was agape the entire time and panic coursed through her body. She pulled the sword out swiftly and the man made unleashed a horrible little scream before falling face down, his head hitting her shin, causing her to jump back in shock. The men he was with stared at their companion in terror, turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Mina stood over the man, unable to catch her breath. Ikkaku's sword was blotched with blood. She lifted her foot before the dark pool traveling from the man's body reached her foot, and stepped back slowly, never taking her eyes off of the body. She looked on in horror as Ikkaku pried his sword from her fist, carefully uncurling her fingers. Ikkaku sheathed his sword, Mina stumbled backward and turned around. She leaned against the shack right next to the one they were peering out from and puked up stomach acid. She felt woozy and fell onto all fours, into her own retch. Her breath was labored. She started sob loudly.

Ikkaku crouched down next to her.

"Can you sit up?" He put an arm around her back. His hand was on her rib cage, putting pressure on it to try and coax her off of her hands. She pushed her hands from ground to her upper thighs. She went back and forth between breathing heavily and sobbing. Her face was shiny and wet and contorted. Ikkaku pulled her left arm from her leg and put it around his shoulder. He put his arm around her waist and stood up, bringing her with him. She was trying to calm herself down but the sobs were frequent and involuntary.

"Ok. C'mon, we're gonna walk now." Mina started to look behind her but Ikkaku grabbed her chin and yanked it forward.

" _Do not_ look back."

Ikkaku bent down and scooped Mina up, making his way back to the house. When they got to the front door, Mina was almost catatonic. She was curled in Ikkaku's arms, staring blankly into nowhere. He made his way through the kitchen, where Yumichika sat at the table looked on in genuine concern, to the bedroom where he gently placed Mina onto the bed. She curled onto her side. She was in shock and ghostly white. Ikkaku pulled by the shoulder until she was laying on her back. He was looming over her, looking deathly serious.

"Everybody here has to deal with it. Everyone here faces death every day. You've only scratched the surface."


	8. Class Dismissed

**Part II**

They couldn't find any uniforms in her size. They had seemingly endless uniforms for petite girls, and one troubled looking, slightly discolored uniform they dug up from the dregs of ill-fitting uniform hell just for her. The hem of her hakama dragged on the ground slightly and she spent most of her mental energy trying to step in a certain way to avoid tripping on them but also keep from drawing anymore attention to herself, which was failing. Especially after tripping and ending up on all fours in a fresh spring mud patch, her sword that was mounted on her back smacking her on the side of the head.

Every ounce of effort put into trying to blend in melted away with the acceptance that her effort was futile. She got up, sniffed, dragged the back of her hand across her nose, streaking the middle of her face with mud, then knotted the hems of her hakama at her shins and marched on. She smeared mud on the first pearly uniform she saw adorned by a man snickering at her current state.

The teachers in this dump weren't much better than their students. It was almost like they sent a memo out to each teacher reminding them to make snide comments about her the state of her appearance before beginning class, which she could not sit still for. She was well versed enough in the subjects taught, having been practically raised by a distinguished captain like Shunsui, to make it into the accelerated classes upon acceptance.

There, every day, she sat in a corner she'd claimed her own. No one else sat there as most people sat with groups of friends, each person belonging to their respective clique. Even the weird kid, Renji, who was picked on by teachers and students alike as she was before she was put down so many times she stopped trying to put effort in, had his own little group of weirdos. And Mina watched them sometimes after classes with a hollowed out chest, hesitating for just a moment before heading to her dorm, with the ambition of tagging along for practice. She always scrapped the idea, right at the moment she thought she saw someone about to turn their head and acknowledge her, she sped away clutching her books to her chest and hanging her red face down toward the ground.

This became a painful ritual. She never seemed to get up the courage to reach out to someone and try to make friends. At this point, everyone seemed well established with the people in their groups and she sat in her corner, doodled and scribbled notes. Every stifled giggle from a group of girls sitting behind her that was swiftly corrected by the teacher was another pang in her chest, a reminder of what she longed for but also afraid of.

She'd never really recovered from Ikkaku and Yumichika taking off suddenly and leaving her with no other option but to return home with her tail between her legs and go to the Shinō Academy. Her self esteem plummeted but at the same time she was no longer afraid of the violence. She'd been through it all and learned what her classmates would only learn years after becoming established Shinigami. But her inability to create a sense of camaraderie with her peers set back any opportunity to really brush up on the advanced skills she'd learned from Ikkaku outside of class. Every day she felt herself becoming more and more hopeless about her future as a Shinigami. She had no idea what her place was in all of this, what she could contribute and what she would feel good about contributing, and above all how she felt about the Gotei 13 as an organization, not that examining the latter would be of any use.

The one class Mina thought she might enjoy, the one where everyone practiced fighting with wooden swords, ended up being her effortlessly shuffling around weak or flawed moves from a sweaty, frustrated classmate who was trying their best. There seemed to be only a select few who would practice with her, usually the ones known for putting as little effort in as possible. From afar, she looked lazy and the students she fought with looked downright awful. The instructor had never really broken up the habitual pairings of the students, instead choosing to focus on the supposed talents of the most aggressive students who sought each other out.

Today was a different day. The substitute assigned pairs, and assigned her and Renji to be partners. The anxiety at this was immediately. Her heart beat a little faster and she tensed up. What if she wasn't as skilled as she thought she was? What if Ikkaku taught her nothing? What if Ikkaku was actually terrible and she was about to break both of her wrists? She barely made eye contact and Renji didn't seem to care enough to put any effort into being friendly.

Once the sub called on them to begin their round, the energy shifted. Renji was swift and harsh, Mina was out of good practice but still more than enough to take him on. After minutes of rapid clashing, they ended up in a gridlock, pushing each other's swords up against the other's at full force despite accomplishing nothing. With a burst of green reiatsu, Mina pushed Renji to the floor, her wooden sword to his throat. The instructor decided to blow his whistle then and call an end to the fight there, declaring Mina the winner.

Mina smiled and reached her hand out to help him up, expecting him to be impressed with her and maybe even invite her to hang out with him and his friends. Instead, Renji hoisted himself up and walked straight past her, muttering something about losing to a girl. Mina, dejected, turned around and sat back down on the floor, making sure to keep space between her and others, which wasn't hard as her classmates scooted away when she sat down. She blinked away a few tears and spaced out toward the wall across from her. Her face was red yet again and she swore the hollow feeling in her chest just grew sharp, pointy teeth.

Class was dismissed and Mina lifted her heavy body up to make the trek back to her dorm so she could cry and nap away the rejection. She saw Renji making his way over to her and she looked on in apprehension, imagining all of the things he could possibly be approaching her about, all of them negative and having to do with reaming her out for embarrassing him in front of everyone.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked in awe.


	9. The Kuchikis

"No, you need to think before you strike. Otherwise you're focussing too much on striking and that'll only work with rookies."

Renji growled and lifted his sword, coming at her at full force. She dodged at the last moment, right under his arm and shoved her wooden sword into the small of his back, propelling him into the ground. She started feeling bad. He was trying so hard and he had so much potential, but she could see him starting to doubt himself and grow weary. It wasn't that she was particularly good, she was just fortunate enough to have Shunsui and to have met Ikkaku and Yumichika. She was lucky, and she knew if he'd been in her situation he'd probably be ten times the fighter she was.

He sat up, crosslegged, and put his head in his hands. Mina's heart sank into her stomach. She kneeled down beside him and put a hand to his shoulder and opened her mouth to speak when Renji pulled his shoulder away as if her hand was made of acid, got up and stormed around the courtyard, cussing and kicking the dirt. He was mumbling something about Kuchiki. The Kuchiki Clan. How was he associated with them? She'd met Byakuya a couple times in her life. She'd only seen him smile once. A real, bright genuine smile. He was with his pale, sickly wife, who was also smiling brightly. It was raining. She remembered reading her obituary.

"I know the Kuchikis. What are you talking about? How do you know them?"

Renji was facing away from Mina. His hands moved from the sides of his head to the front of his now sunken head. Mina hesitated to get any closer. He didn't seem to respond well to concern. She swore she heard him sniffle a little bit. The door from the school to the courtyard opened suddenly and Renji's red and glistening face jerked in the direction of the school for only a moment before he disappeared.

The famous Shuuhei Hisagi walked through the doors alone, nonchalant, hands in his pockets and peered around from his left to his right. He sauntered over to Mina and towered over her.

"Hey."

* * *

Mina stumbled out of the boy's dorm at three in the morning. Her hair was a mess and her hakama were backwards, but the moon was high and she felt good. She breathed in the warm air of the night, eyes closed. She wandered into the woods, into her special place by the river. A small clearing covered in moss so soft you could sleep on it. She sat down cross legged and then toppled over onto her side, listening to the river babble. Listening to a thump and a shuffle of footsteps behind her. She jumped up and reached her fists out defensively in front of her. There was Renji looking very unimpressed. Mina tucked her fists into her chest sheepishly before dropping them to her sides and laying back down toward the river. Renji sat down behind her.

"What do you know about the Kuchikis?"

Mina opened one eye and rolled onto her back.

"What?"

"What do you know about the Kuchikis?" Renji asked, slower this time, his shadowed eyes fixed on her face. "Specifically Byakuya."

"Um…" she was groggy and her head was still swimming from the night before. She sniffed and let out a sigh.

"He's that, like… God, he's, like, that guy…" She closed her eyes tight trying to think about anything of import she could possibly know about this person. "So he's, like, this rich guy."

Renji rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance.

"No!" Mina laughed, "I mean, like… Hold on, sorry, let me think." She closed her eyes and scrunched up her nose.

"So he's the captain of the Sixth squad… and his dad was captain of the Sixth squad… which is pretty bullshit but old man Yama doesn't care about nepotism apparently…" Mina put her hands behind her head and looked up at the sky, she looked a little sad and distant.

"His wife was cool."

Renji seemed to perk up a little.

"His wife? What do you know about her?"

"She was really little and pale, but _so_ nice. Maybe one of the only people besides my uncle who'd actually sit down and talk to me like a person when I was a kid. Always inviting me in for tea. They had this, like, amazing garden right outside their porch, it smelled so good." Mina closed her eyes for a moment.

"What about Byakuya?"

"Hmm…" Mina opened her eyes and gazed back at the sky again. "I don't think anyone really knows anything about Byakuya. He's strong as hell. Never smiles. That's kind of it."

Renji looked on into the river glistening under the moonlight. "Strong, huh?" He said, mostly to himself.

"Yeah…" Mina looked up at his face, illuminated and a little blue under the moonlight. He was so serious, his eyes always half lidded and intense. She could have sworn she'd met him before. A long repressed memory suddenly resurfaced. She reached up and poked Renji's chin.

"Hey."

"Hmm?" He looked down at her and it made her stomach flutter.

"You mugged me in Rukongai, didn't you?"

He gave her a half smile and pushed himself up off the ground.

"Come on. Let's go get some sleep, I want you to be well rested when I beat your ass in class tomorrow."

He reached his hand down and pulled Mina up. She yanked his hand toward her.

"You're on."


End file.
